Patras Campus

Unlike everything else in Greece the campus is more than a little different. The buildings are in various states of disrepair but have plenty of flat screen tvs and ping pong tables. There is an abundance of "wildlife" including sheep, goats, dogs, horses, donkeys, and gypsies. There are plenty of chances to interact with these indigenous species as only the sheep and goats stay outside. The dogs are everywhere including on the third floor of the engineering building where they would sometimes come into our study room for a quick visit. Mostly the dogs stay in the cafeteria and which is also where we would occasionally see a pair of gypsies ride through the maze of tables bare back riding a black horse. The grounds are not manicured and filled with olive trees reaching all the way up to the rocky peaks of the mountains just behind the campus. The grounds are also littered with beautiful bronze sculptures, graffiti, communist propaganda, cigarette butts, coffee shops, and apathetic students. In between the various protest marches groups of farmers drive around the campus harvesting the wild olives while we sit in class learning about the intricacies of soil structure interactions during seismic events.

There are many factors contributing to the craziness on campus but the two biggest factors are that school is free and the police are not allowed on campus. School is free as in free tuition, free food, and free board. Needless to say there is little motivation for anyone to leave and no one has any kind of motivation to finish in any timely fashion. The police not being allowed on campus would not be a huge deal if the students were not so great at riots and protests. This gives the campus a modern wasteland feel as some days we would show up for class only to find that the doors had been barred and four students were hanging out inside just playing cards. Needless to say it is quite an interesting, confusing, and beautiful place. It would be hard to understand the feeling of the campus without actually being there but hopefully these pictures will help.